Physician Assistants Contribution to Emergency Department Productivity

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this report is to determine physician assistant (PA) productivity in anacademic emergency department (ED) and to determine whether shift length or department censusimpact productivity.Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted at a tertiary ED during June and July of 2007.Productivity was calculated as the mean number of patients seen each hour. Analysis of variance wasused to compare the productivity of different length shifts, and linear regression analysis was used toassess the relationship between productivity and department volume.Results: One hundred sixty PA shifts were included. Shifts ranged from 4 to 13 hours. Meanproductivity was 1.16 patients per hour (95% confidence interval [CI] ¼ 1.12–1.20). Physicianassistants generated a mean of 2.35 relative value units (RVU) per hour (95% CI¼1.98–2.72). Therewas no difference in productivity on different shift lengths (P¼0.73). There was no correlation betweendepartmental census and productivity, with an R2 (statistical term for the coefficient of determination) of0.01.Conclusion: In the ED, PAs saw 1.16 patients and generated 2.35 RVUs per hour. The length of theshift did not affect productivity. Productivity did not fluctuate significantly with changing departmentalvolume.

Keywords

• productivity
• Physician Assistants